IT was a bright and cheerful afternoon Towards the end of the sunny month of June, When the north wind congregates in crowds The floating mountains of the silver clouds From the horizon -- and the stainless sky Opens beyond them like eternity. All things rejoiced beneath the sun; the weeds, The river, and the cornfields, and the reeds; The willow leaves that glanced in the light breeze, And the firm foliage of the larger trees. It was a winter such as when birds die In the deep forests; and the fishes lie Stiffened in the translucent ice, which makes Even the mud and slime of the warm lakes A wrinkled cold as hard as brick; and when Among their children comfortable men Gather about great fires, and yet feel cold: Alas, then, for the homeless beggar old! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BALLAD MADE AT THE REQUEST OF HIS MOTHER .. PRAY TO OUR LADY by FRANCOIS VILLON A BOOK OF AIRS SONG 18 by THOMAS CAMPION THE LOVE OF GOD by ELIZA SCUDDER THE LETTER; EDWARD ROWLAND SILL, DIED FEBRUARY 27, 1887 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH BUCK O' KINGWATTER by ROBERT ANDERSON OF CARLISLE GOD BLESS YOU, DEAR, TODAY by JOHN BENNETT (1865-1956) |